"We just want our family life and our sex right which are ruthlessly deprived by
the factory," Chen said, adding, "Most of those married workers came to the
city along with their loved ones."
There are a total of 300 migrant workers in the factory where Chen works and
some 30 are married. Those married ones who have their partners in the city can
have one day off per week, while those who are single are permitted only two
days off within a whole month.
The married ones used to have only two days off also, until they protested
several times against it.
Right now Chen's wife, who works in another factory, lives in a rented flat
single room near Chen's factory, where the two meet just once a week.
"I'm worried about my wife spending the whole night alone in the room,"
complained Chen. "We two have sex only once a week, which makes me feel
depressed."
These kinds of rigid rules are very common in local privately owned factories
that cash in on migrant workers' hard work while having little concern about
their lives and needs.
"The silly rules are against human instinct for sex and marriage life," said
Chen, adding "That also runs counter to the nation's marriage and workers'
law."
When asked about the issue, the boss of the factory declined to make any
comment.
China, in a time of great change, has a migrant worker population of over 130
million scattered throughout urban areas.
The sexual oppression of migrant workers has long been a social cancer as more
and more farmers leave their far-flung home soil for booming cities, with their
wives taking care of the family at home.
To relieve the suffering of loneliness and sex anxiety, migrant workers are
more likely to turn to prostitutes. This easily put them at the risk of
acquiring STDs or even AIDS, which can destroy their families.
It is very harmful to migrant workers' physical and mental health for them to
be long restrained from a regular sex life, which is a natural instinct for
human beings, said sexologists.
"Love nests" leased to migrant worker couples at a low price were initiated
last year at the migrant worker-densely-populated areas in Shenzhen in a bid to
better solve their basic needs.
However, it is still a far cry from a sustainable life for migrant workers
whose throes pave the way for China's dynamic advancement, in a time of great
change.
